Why beverage brands (and their buyers) need to feel what’s happening
“That won’t work; people don’t want that.”
If you’ve been in retail or FMCG long enough, you’ve heard it. Usually from someone who doesn’t get the audience. Or worse, from a brand that’s lost touch themselves.
It’s like in that series Adolescence. Researchers are puzzled by teenage behavior until a detective asks his son. The boy replies: “Dad, that emoji means something completely different than you think.” What’s obvious to the youth is invisible to the grown-ups.
In our world, that gap is deadly. If you don’t feel what your audience feels, you’ll miss it.
Why this matters in beverages. Take cocktails. A buyer who cherishes a hand-shaken whisky sour at the bar on Friday night struggles to imagine 22-year-olds drinking canned RTD’s in the park. Not because they’re out of touch with quality. They’re out of touch with context.
Consumers don’t choose prestige. They choose moments, convenience, and vibe. That shift is non-negotiable.
The data is clear
- RTD’s grew 29.3% last year, fuelled by convenience and portion control (Silicon Valley Bank).
- Canned alcoholic drinks will jump from $32.6B in 2025 to $55.7B in 2035 (FMI).
- More than half of all innovation dollars in alcohol now go to RTD’s. Seltzers alone are forecasted to hit 26% of category volume by 2026 (Reuters, Curion, Vogue Business).
- 92% of consumers pick RTD’s because they’re easy (Numerator, Kantar).
- In the UK, RTD sales nearly doubled in ten years to £970m in 2024 (The Guardian).
This isn’t a niche. It’s the mainstream. Who wins? The ones who feel it. Look at Albert Heijn. A full meter of innovative soft drinks. Not because Coke said so. Because they trusted the pulse of the consumer.
That’s the future of retail:
- Functional and emotional.
- Grounded in behavior, not boardroom assumptions.
- Space for brands that dare to move first.
The core takeaway
If you want to win, surround yourself with people who are the audience or who get them instinctively. Trust the one in the room whose gut tells you it works, even if it sounds crazy. Because if you don’t understand your customer? You’ll lose them.